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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

You are not a Wolf!

I am sure that many of you are familiar with the popular children's story "The Jungle Book". If you are not familiar, it’s the one about the boy who was raised by wolves. The story follows that the boy was abandoned in the woods and was taken in by a pack of wolves that eventually reared him as their own. Surrounded by wolves and other creatures of the jungle, over time Mowgli begin to think he was a wolf.

This story came to mind a few days ago when I had the unique pleasure of hearing my metaphysical crush, Dr. Deepak Chopra speak at Georgia State University. Dr. Chopra's 2 hour lecture ran the gamut of biological and New Thought topics. He explained that human beings are composed of literal stardust and told us that we share 70% of our DNA with mosquitoes. He's brilliant in the way he effortlessly fuses quantum physics, metaphysics, astronomy, biology, nutrition and spirituality with tact and precision. He made a myriad of points that are worth noting, two of which I wanted to share with you today.

The first point he made, detailed the spiritual difference between human beings and animals. Dr. Chopra said that the anatomy of the human brain has evolved over time. In the years of the caveman, our brains were much simpler. In function, they closely mirrored that of an animal. In those days we devoted the majority of our mental activity to surviving...hunting, gathering, and reproducing. Over the years our brains have become more multifarious and now include the ability to solve complex problems that earlier man did not have the capacity to. So, even though human beings share 98.5% of our DNA with chimpanzees, that last little 1.5% contains something special.

Human beings are the only form of life to be given the power of discernment. Meaning, we not only have the ability to think … but to create by way of focused attention (or intention). This is important because other living beings do not have this ability. Animals, even the more intelligent species like chimps, exist in world of duty and necessity. They do what they have to do to survive. There is very little real choice involved. Which is more, they are not mentally or emotionally capable of using their minds to create their realities. This is something that only humans can do. Now, let’s keep this little tidbit in our back pocket because it’s the next point that caused me to have an “aha moment,” of my own

The second point he made was about the universal connectivity of all living beings. He said that with each breath we literally inhale and exhale cells from every part of our body. Simultaneously, other people are doing the same. So in essence, the simple act of breathing is really a mental and physical exchange of ideas and life.

Knowing this makes it easier to understand the Law of Attraction. Think about it, if we are literally sharing our minds with each other, it makes sense that what we focus on manifests. When you are devoting the power of your brain to something, the people around you are responding to your thoughts because- through breath- your thoughts and feelings are becoming a part of them. Ever wonder why you will think about someone and somehow the call you or email you? This explains all of what we deem to be supernatural. It’s not really that outlandish when you realize how connected we really are to each other mentally, spiritually, and in some sense physically.

Bringing it back to the Jungle Book example, part of the reason that Mowgli was unable to see himself as a human was because he was surrounded by wolves. Meaning, he was sharing his thoughts with other wolves. So even in the face of all of the physical and emotional evidence that he was not a wolf, he had a hard time accepting...believing that he was not a wolf. The use of the word accepting and believing is important here, because I have no doubt that he intellectually understood that he was not wolf… but his history and surroundings made it hard for him to let his behavior reflect his knowledge. Now that we know that we share our minds with every person whose air we share, it’s easier to see how much our individual consciousness relates to the collective consciousness. We are not JUST what we think about…we are also who we think about it with. The danger here is that not everyone is aware of their power as human beings. Many people move through their lives in survival mode, using only the prehistoric part of their brains that I spoke about earlier. They don’t believe the power that they have as humans…even though they may logically understand it. The complication is that when one person is unwilling to accept who they are…we all suffer. Think about it:

You think you are poor because the people around you constantly speak of lack.

You think you are ugly because the world has a standard of beauty that is not like your own.

You think you won't find love because your parents were never married and your friends are in bad relationships.

You think you can't loose weight because we live in culture where dieting has become more popular that healthy living.

You think you are powerless over you situation because your parents, religion, and culture has taught you that you have no control over what happens to you...that you must sacrifice...endure and so on.

There a million other examples, I could sitebut you get my point. The paradigm shift that is required for us to move from being a nation of passive followers to being a people of enlightened creators lies in our ability to accept our true nature as humans. We are by nature, creators. Our minds have evolved beyond an existence of survival to an existence of conception. That which we intend, we have the power to conceive. Everything that exists in the physical world came from an idea. The computer you are reading this on, the chair you are sitting in, the clothes you are wearing –were all ideas, first. No wolf can boast to that type of achievement. Why then do we lower ourselves to the level of animals by resigning ourselves to survive instead of live..and by live, I mean create. And by create, I mean doing the things that bring you joy and can bring joy to others!

As a human there is power in your thoughts and intentions. And each thought you have has the power to impact every other person you come into contact with. Others may not know or accept it, but if each of us makes a small change each day we can literally change the world.

I understand that we think we are wolves because we are surrounded by wolves. But the truth is... no matter what your history has been, who raised you, or how the people around you behave, remember.